A Peanut!

The last two days have been full of appointments for our little Ando. A scary symptom wound up revealing some excellent news!

Sunday evening and Monday morning, Anders was spitting up a bunch and twice spooked us when we saw streaks of blood in his "cottage cheese." The first time we called my mom, and she was pretty sure it wouldn't be coming from his lungs and was probably due to irritation from his cold. The second time we were a little more scared, so we called the pediatrician (Dr. Robinson) and the pediatric surgeon (Dr. Jona). We already had scheduled appointments with both doctors. Dr. Jona said it was probably nothing, but to be sure, he ordered a chest x-ray to be done before our appointment with him.

First of all, on Wednesday we saw Dr. Robinson for Anders's two week appointment and found out that he is definitely following in his big (and I do mean BIG) brother's footsteps. He had already gained a pound and a half and weighed in at 10 pounds, 14 ounces! Also, when I described Anders's fussiness and constant spitting up, she prescribed banana flavored Zantac for him, so hopefully we will see less of his meal after he's eaten in the next few weeks.

Then I took Anders to get his chest x-ray and that was pretty traumatic. They had to strap him to a board with his hands secured up next to his head and he screamed bloody murder the whole time. When he was done he was all sweaty and shocked and I thought I was going to cry too.

Today we found out the results of the x-ray from Dr. Jona--the CCAM continues to shrink. In fact, it is now the size of a peanut! I was so surprised and happy to hear that news! He also feels that the tumor will continue to shrink to the point that it will barely be visible on x-ray, and we can wait to have surgery until Anders is between 1 and 2 years old. When he has the surgery is entirely up to us and the only reason to do it before he's 3 is so that he won't remember it. The only reason to still remove the tiny tumor is that it is possible that when he's old, it may turn into lung cancer. So this is a long-long-term preventative measure and nothing else.

I feel so lucky and blessed and unworthy of God's favor and answer to our prayers. My parents' church is having people plant tulips in honor/celebration of something, so they're planting some for all their answered prayers for Anders. Right now I'm picturing a field of yellow and red tulips, which are one of my favorite flowers, dancing in the sunshine and worshipping our good God for his mercy on us. Often I look at my sweet baby's face and remember the first night we were told that there was something wrong with his lungs and how I thought he was going to die. I'm so grateful for my little Thor and his ever-shrinking peanut!